Proposal for a package management system for ReactOS

[Thanatophobia]

I know that ReactOS kinda technically has an 'Applications Manager' where you can install both free and proprietary 'freeware' software, although I wouldn't call it a 'true' package manager since it still just downloads the installer that would then install the actual software. And it also only installs applications, not libraries or other 'core' components.

I'm proposing having a package management system, similar to Debian's dpkg and APT and Red Hat's RPM, where as an alternative of installing software externally via .msi installers, a central repository can be used to install and upgrade Win32 applications and software as well. In addition, it can also be used to install and upgrade 'core' components, and would make upgrading the operating system a much easier process like in Linux distributions, instead of the old way for having to go to a website to install software. It would also allow for separate repository for 'core' components and higher level applications.

I know package managers like NuGet and Chocolatey already exists for Microsoft Windows, but those are for applications using the .NET Framework rather than the native Win32 API.

If I had to pick a good name for such a package manager, I propose naming it perhaps rpkg (ReactOS Package). Maybe there's a better way to name it.

[gonzoMD]

IMO we should not invent the wheel again. To get chocolatey working should be the target. This would avoid a huge amount of maintenance work. As long as this is not done, Rapps does its work. Just my 2 cents.

[dizt3mp3r]

The RAPPS app manager is fine.

[TMStreicher]

Chocolatey sounded interesting, but a 2nd look was less appealing. It requires .NET, PowerShell and TLS 1.2+. In order to use the online-installer you have to register. There exists an offline-installer too, but the instructions looked a bit messy. And they already discontinue support for W7 and W2008 server. So Chocolatey is IMO not appropriate.

IMO a good package-manager should be simple, standalone and suitable for "older" systems. RAPPS is fine.

[karlexceed]

Yeah, I think the idea of this as a project isn't bad - just not something that ROS devs should have added to their workload. If anyone has the time and interest, by all means start working on an XP-compatible package manager. Then once it's working, it could be added to RApps for easy install in ROS.

[MadWolf]

In order to use the online-installer you have to register. There exists an offline-installer too, but the instructions looked a bit messy. And they already discontinue support for W7 and W2008 server. So Chocolatey is IMO not appropriate.

to install you run 2 or three commands in PowerShell
1)Get-ExecutionPolicy
2)if Restricted

Code: Select all

Set-ExecutionPolicy AllSigned

or

Code: Select all

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process

3

Code: Select all

Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Scope Process -Force; [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol -bor 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))

and to install an app you enter the command choco install -y AppName for example choco install -y 7zip

PowerShell Core is open source I do not know if the license is GPL compatible or if PowerShell Core can run Chocolatey and i do not know if PowerShell Core will install and run on ReactOS

[TMStreicher]

Thank you for the explanations, MadWolf.

As it turned out RApps already provides a 3rd-party package-manager, Npackd, which even seems to work (very slowly), So the suggestion in the OP might already have been.treated satisfactorily.

[kasenshlogga]

Personally the biggest problem I have with package managers (the way I know them from linux) is that as an average user you have no idea where it stores all the packages needed for the applications, making it next to impossible to backup an application to make it "portable" for use on other linux distros.

With most Windows applications you can just .zip the folder with the application you want to back up and it will just work on any system where you unzip it because all files needed to run the application are in that folder. Sometimes the settings end up in Username/AppData/Local or something, but you can back up those too. With linux the files are so damn scattered you have no idea what file belongs to what.

So IF ReactOS were to get a package manager, it shouldn't download dependency files and drop them into random system folders. They should be put straight where the application is. That way you have all your applications nice and portable.

[TMStreicher]

So IF ReactOS were to get a package manager, it shouldn't download dependency files and drop them into random system folders. They should be put straight where the application is.

I think you don't have to worry. Both Windows and most applications are designed to work your preferred way., When I dabbled around with Npackd it displayed an installer-window. but I only had to confirm the license agreement. So I assume it uses traditional installers, combined with unattened installations.